Day 184 Claresholm to High River, Alberta

Day 184, a little brisk, but we are Canadians! we can handle it!

Before we left the hotel I had a chance to go for a bit of a walk. I thought I spotted a hawk high on a hill, but when I zoomed in, alas, it was just a pidgeon.

There he is up on the left

I seem to have a bit of a fascination with the railway bridge.

I thought I could get closer, but it was farther away than I thought, and I had to get going.

This tree is down in the valley at Indian Battle Park, again, another place I have to come back and see in the summertime. Indian Battle Park is also the home of Fort Whoop-up (fun to say)

The hill around the park remind me of the Okanagan valley.

Farewell to our home for 6 nights (and I was blessed enough to have my own room for 4 of those nights)

I like the wide open spaces.

These pictures were over a 90 kilometre section of highway 3 and 2a

The start of day 184 was here in Claresholm, but Kayla and I had a medal bearer meeting point in Nanton, Aberta.

Passing by Stavely, population 500

I guess if you are looking for grain elevators instead of using the GPS, you will know when you are in Nanton, it's the brown one!

Downtown Nanton, population about 2,100 Nanton is home to an aviation museum, and the grain elevators have been fully restored and are available for tours.

Another relay first. (for me, anyways) Kayla and I hosted a meeting at the Nanton fire hall. Here is the firefighter's creed.

They had a memorabilia section, including these patches from fire departments in different communities,

including my hometown, Penticton, B.C.

Nanton's difference makers, Sue, Joann, and Terry, who was just injured a year and a half ago. Here is his story:

It's less about how I made a difference in my community then how my community made a difference in me. When I was injured a year and a

half ago nanton rallied behind me with overwhelming support even though I have been going to school and living in Edmonton since 2004 even

going so far as throwing me a very successful fundraiser. They have installed in me the belief that anything is possible and that I will have

unwavering support no matter what challenges I face in my future. By being able to participate in this relay I hope to show my town that, just

like Rick Hansen making a believer out of millions, they have made a believer out of me.

I'd like to keep my friends description of me who nominated me for this relay as well because it was thanks to her I got nominated.

You’ve yet to meet the man who wears a Superman one-zie out on the town …not for Halloween! The guy that chugged an entire bottle of

maple syrup a la Super Troopers, the guy that could always be counted on to paint his chest for the University of Alberta athletics games, &

who continues to drop everything at a moments notice to meet a friend when he’s needed. You’ve yet to meet Terry Tenove, but you should.

Simply, he’ll change your life. Terry is the life of the party & the most reliable friend. An avid athlete, Terry played on every campus recreation

team the University of Alberta had to offer, and could always be found at the gym on campus cheering on his home team or at a local pub

catching whatever sport was in season. Terry lives to be active and has big goals to share his passion for sport, recreation and living an active

lifestyle with his future students. October 7, 2011 marked the one-year anniversary of Terry’s accident. An education student, Terry was in class

on the ice rink. In a collision, Terry’s spine was severed & he is now a quadriplegic, yet this has not dashed his passion for sport and recreation,

nor his willingness to share this passion with his community. Terry is a light in his community, and will be an incredible addition to the relay in

his hometown Nanton, or in Edmonton, where the University community continues to be inspired by Terry.

The three medal bearers decided to do their segment together, which happens a lot, especially in the smaller communities. Here Andrew (part of our pilot vehicle team today) gives some last minute instructions and encouragement.

Kayla and I could not attend the end of day celebration in High River, we had to get going to Calgary, so Kayla could attend one of the Rick Hansen 25th anniversary fundraising galas. Click on this link to learn more about the galas.
In less than one hour we went from small town Nanton to the outskirts of Calgary, which now boasts a population of over one million people.

back in traffic!

i'm speechless!

The iconic Calgary tower. The torch for the 1988 Calgary Olympic relay was designed for the Calgary Towr , and when I worked at the Olympics, the tower was lit the entire time. (They also lit the tower when we came through on the 2010 Olympic torch relay)

We are staying downtown at the Westin, which has no parking for the oversize vehicles, (like my shuttle bus), so parking was arranged behind the Saddledome, home of the Calgary Flames of the NHL

We had to wait about 20 minutes for a cab to figure out where we were.

The excitement of the big city!

Outside the window in my home for the next 6 nights, I can see CTV setting up their satellite truck in preparation for the Rick Hansen gala later that evening.

So we decided to have our 2nd "driver's gala" (first one in Toronto) at the Barley Mill pub down the street.

On the way back, Dawn, Pat, Don, and Marilyn are being "udderly ridiculous!"

Day 182 and 183 Lethbridge to Fort McLeod to Claresholm, Alberta

Day 182 was a bit of a later start, so I had time to get a load of laundry done in Lethbridge.

A greyer day today as Kayla and I headed west to our medal bearer meeting point in Monarch, Alberta

For the first time in a long time, mountains! (These are part of the Rocky Moutains)

There's the turn-off

Monarch is another small, small farming town, the tallest structure is the water tower.

Our meeting point was at this church .

Wow!

As we were sitting in the parking lot waiting for someone to let us in, I noticed that the 3 relay vehicles that were there all had different graphics on the hoods. ( seemed interesting at the time)

Working for the event teams today was Brittney, who has come out from the Rick Hansen Foundation head office in Richmond to join us for a week.

 I think most of the community came out to the church meeting room for the relay presentation. The kids from Providence Christian School were supposed to have the day off. They voted to stay in school today just to be part of the 25th anniversary Rick Hansen relay.

And to support the three medal bearers from their school, Bertel, Bernice, and William.

These little guys even made their own medals!

Part of the presentation includes a slide show of Rick Hansen's story. This is a shot of Rick in one of the many wheelchair marathon races he competed in. (he won 19 races)

A shot of the start of the original man in motion world tour in 1985, as they left Oakridge mall in Vancouver.

The end of day celebration was Fort Macleod, but the services of Kayla and myself were not needed, so we headed back to Lethbridge. Here I am still trying to get "the" shot of that railroad bridge.

Back to to our little oasis

Oh yah, this morning while I was doing laundry, I had time to go over to SportChek and pick-up a snazzy new pair of "relay" runners.

Day 183, a very brief snow squall blew through town, adding a little ice and snow to the roads.

On the way to Claresholm for our meeting point, we did pass through Fort Macleod. (this pic is part of the original fort)

There's a whole lot of nothing.

What did people do before these things?

On the highway heading to our meeting point

The commuinty center was also the meeting place for the local Lion's club, who had their version of a map of Canada.

The community centre was also the sight of the Day 183 end of day celebration.

I guess our meeting was in the Lion's den.

These events would not be successful without the volunteers that make it happen. The lion's club cooked up a beef in a bun dinner for the community, and all money raised went to the Rick Hansen Foundation.

The pre-shuttle group shot. ( I see a lot of pride in this picture)

Kayla saw an opportune moment to get rid of some mail as we were dropping off the medal bearers for their segment

It is always nice to see the family and friends waiting for the medal bearers as we drop them off.

Our MC for the event, Billy, chats with Stephan, Claresholm's end of day medal bearer.

One final group picture with the 25th anniversary Rick Hansen medal.

There were more relay staff than medal bearers today to participate in the warm-up dance, very impressive!

Thank-you Claresholm, and the local Lion's club.

The grey skies were clearing, so it seemed like now or never..........

To take a short detour and head up the road to..............

Head Smashed-In-Buffalo Jump, this is the view from the interpretive centre.

We got there before closing time, but unfortunately, they had a power outage and the interpretive centre was closed.

This is a Unesco World Heritage Site

The panorama

It was still worth the trip.

On the way back to the highway, we did see real buffalo. (albeit farm buffalo)

Quite a change from the start of day 183

Long story short, my brother-in-law was telling me about this crane somewhere around Fort Macleod that he and his buddy had their pictures taken in 20 (????) years ago. So when I saw this rig in a farm field, I knew it had to be the one!

One more night in Lethbridge, then Calgary bound!